How is Huw Edwards different to Philip Schofield

[user6482952]

Heard this question raised on LBC this morning and was wondering the same thing.

How are the two any different? Both older men engaged with younger men, both cheating on their wives, and both claiming mental health issues post revelation.

And its up 50+ year old men not to get involved and pay allegedly 35k to these "crafty" 17 year olds they should know better.

I wonder what the response would be if a mumsnetter posted about her middle aged husband and his younger people kink .

i don’t think there’s much difference really. The way they’re treated so differently is either homophobia or the fact that girls are sexualised from a young age (as it has been widely assumed that it is young girls with Huw). Both gross, maybe not illegal but morally questionable

I don’t think there’s much difference. They’re both predatory men that the world can do without. Plenty more unfortunately.

Certainly interesting seeing the same people on twitter talking about Huw in very different terms to how they talked about Prince Andrew (not a fan, tbc). No, the cases aren't exactly the same, but...

You are absolutely right to point this out @Whatonearth2021 and I should know better than to regurgitate MN gossip as if it was fact. I was only doing it here but it is a public forum, so I really should (and will) refrain.

I don't think either of them are terrible people. No laws have been broken, and they have been vilified based on hearsay. Witch hunts still taking place in this day and age is reprehensible!

Well, exactly. Or talked about BJ's numerous 'indiscretions' which in their eyes made him unfit for office and his role. Andrew's accuser was the same age as the young person involved here and any sexual contact, however exploitative and repellant, would have been legal here in the UK. But they're not rushing to say that, are they?

It's been widely assumed that it's definitely not girls from everything I've been reading.

I think when the story initially broke it was "he" and then it was retracted.

If they were female they'd just say so.

I haven’t read the full thread but Huw Edwards didn’t actually touch anyone. Buying pictures on only fans which were willingly sold by someone who set up an only fans account and is something which lots of men people do is pretty different to an actual in person sexual relationship with a much younger person who is also a college.

Huw wasn’t sleeping with a runner.

The person on only fans would have been paid for their pictures whether Huw bought them or not. If you have an issue with it take it up with only fans and the porn industry.

The whole power play dynamic is completely different in the scoffield case too. His brothers court case also didn’t help.

Why would it be interesting? He's a highly paid person so imagine he's in private health care. So what?

Agree, I’d say the level of outrage for an older man pursuing/grooming/sexting a much younger man is at the correct level and the lack of outrage when it’s a young woman is the wrong one. We should keep them both the same ie high.

My point exactly, if you go on Only Fans posting pictures you’re in it for the money.
The fact that someone either young or old pays the money is entirely up to them.
Its no good calling out ‘dirty old men’ when someone buys one!
The internet is rife with sleazy sex, type ‘porn’ into a search engine and it’s unbelievable, these searches are available for children or 80 year olds, it’s the internet that needs cleaning up. We are rearing a generation of sexualised children, we should be very afraid.

Definitely keep it equal it is no less sleazy to be in touch with women young enough to be your daughter than it is men

Yes this is what I was thinking too.

Less homophobia and more placing young men as of more value than young women.

@DoYouRememberTheInnMiranda , if people are reacting differently, IMO it’s probably because they were disposed to think well of Huw beforehand, which was not necessarily the case with PS. Personally I always found him a bit smarmy and rather too pleased with himself.

I don't think there's a massive difference and it's a great shame they didn't both leave their wives sooner and get together. They'd have a lot in common both being in TV, both reasonable attractive silver foxes (if that was Huw's arse, fair play, that does not look like a 60 year old's bum) and neither would have been publicly vilified for hankering after twinks.

This.

What HE seems to have done (bought pics via Only Fans) is legal and took place in private, nothing to do with his public life or his job at the BBC. He didn’t have a sexual relationship with the individual(s).

PS is alleged to have groomed someone he knew since he was underage, over a long period. They had a sexual relationship. He got him a job and continued their sexual relationship while working together, in a scenario where PS was in a dominant position and essentially controlled him. Everyone who worked with them knew about it and turned a blind eye, for years. It’s completely different.

I don't think there is a huge amount of difference between them. And I'm surprised at how sympathetic the coverage of HE has been this morning.

In both PS and HE cases it has been heavily implied that the young people involved had drug problems AS a consequence of their involvement with the presenters.

There has been no proof offered that either do have drug problems or that of they did, it was as a result of their involvement with the presenters.

But there has been constant talk of the MH of the young people involved. It formed the basis of why the parents of the young person Implicated in the HE case say they went to the BBC and The Sun. Because their child allegedly has a serious drug problem alledging being part-funded by HE.

So it's totally incorrect to say 'no-one ever seems to be talking about that' (the MH of the alleged young people involved). Virtually everyone is talking about it!

No material difference imo. They're both predatory, sleazy older men in position of power with money to burn, using younger, more vulnerable people for their own ends and prioritising their pleasure over all else. Their particular sexuality or preferences is irrelevant. And all when such rich, powerful men could easily have a ready supply of consensual sex with people their own or similar age, not least the people they're actually married to or in a relationship with! But that wouldnt contain the same illicit thrill. gay, straight, bi, boys, girls, makes no difference in my eyes, it's about abuse of power and narcissism and I am pleased that such men are finally being made to examine their behaviour in public.

Women preying on much younger people or paying them for sex or to wank for them on a screen are vanishingly rare. And that's because we emphasize with children's and young people and what it was like to be young and perved over, with little power or ability to escape it. These men are fundamentally narcissists who have had it their way all their lives and I'm glad society as a whole is starting to question it.

I think lots of you are missing the part of the story where Huw was accused of meeting at least one young person from a dating app during lockdown. He also sent abusive and threatening messages to another young person he met (but not in person) through an app, who threatened to go public about him. Huw’s threatening messages have been seen and verified by the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66165766). I don’t blame people for missing aspects of this weird story, but there’s a lot more to it than the original claims by one person’s parents.

It's bizarre everything from its a cover up for worse to poor poor Huw ! He is a sleaze bag buying explicit material and allegedly meeting up with a younger adult during lock down and allegedly playing 35k for the privilege, its revolting, but it's fine he's H E and told us the Queen died!

The sex of the young person is irrelevant. A much older, more powerful person paying a vulnerable person over four decades younger than themselves for explicit photographs is repugnant. No difference to PS whatsoever - both are calculated abuses of power. And both leave a marriage and family in tatters, as well as having a profound effect on the young people involved.

I hope Huw recovers from his breakdown and is then able to face up to what he's done. And I also hope that others in positions of relative power take note and think twice before acting in a similar manner for the sakes of all potentially involved.

Pretty much this.

What HE seems to have done (bought pics via Only Fans)

The Only Fans part of this has really taken off, where did you see it verified?